Reseal oil pan after removing rear main seal?

[Demon33]

I am in the process of replacing the rear main seal on my 6-bolt motor. I have the seal housing removed and the new seal and oil separator pressed in with the drain hole at the bottom.

The bottom of the seal housing is a sealing surface for the oil pan. Obviously, I need to apply RTV sealant (silicone) to it for a proper seal to the oil pan. My question is this- do I also need to drop the oil pan, clean and reseal it at the same time as the rear main seal housing to get the proper sealing and prevent any leaks at the rear main housing? Doing it this way is more work, but I can see that it would allow the RTV sealant to cure as one on both the oil pan and rear main seal housing. But is it necessary?

In all honestly, I'll probably end up doing it this way to be absolutely sure it won't leak and to do a thorough job, but I just wanted to hear some opinions on the subject. Should I inspect for anything while I have the pan out? Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[ndsti]

Yes, seal your oil pan correctly the first time!! You will regret it later if you don't do it right the first time... Trust me I know, I was that guy who just wanted to get his car finished.

 

[Boost92awd]

I would drop the pan an reseal odds are if you dont will have a small oil leak.

 

[spawn7037]

When i rebuild my motor i ended up putting the oil pan on before the rear main assembly ended up just hammering the assembly in place with some rtv inbetween and it went in just fine, haven't had any leaks yet.

 

[Demon33]

Sounds like you could either be lucky it doesn't leak or unlucky that it does leak. But it's definitely less work to make the extra effort now and seal both oil pan and rear seal housing than to discover a leak once the tranny is bolted back up and then have to tear it all out to fix again.

For sure I'll be dropping the oil pan, cleaning it off and resealing it with the rear main housing. Thanks for your input.

 

[N1te]

Always better to do the work ahead of time on these cars, failure to do so is normally why people call dsms unreliable.

 

[Defiant]

It's a Mitsubishi. It is going to leak. But you don't want to give it a head start so close to the clutch.

 

[Demon33]

Always better to do the work ahead of time on these cars, failure to do so is normally why people call dsms unreliable.

Agreed. Now that my car's going on 20 years old this coming September, preventive and predictive maintenance is most important.

Originally, I was only planning on replacing the clutch and flywheel until I realized just how easy it is to replace the rear main seal at that point even though it wasn't leaking. It took all of about 5 minutes to remove the 7 screws and pry the seal housing from the block/crankshaft. Another 5-7 minutes to remove the old seal, clean the housing and press in the new seal. By my estimation, no more than 30 minutes to remove the oil pan, clean it and reinstall it and the rear main seal housing. Definitely worth the effort for the peace of mind.

 

[IceMinion]

Find a flat surface, pound the oil pan flat (after removing all old RTV.

Use "The Right Stuff" or "Ultra Black" if first is unavalible.

Put a thin layer of RTV on both the engine and the oil pan.

Let sit for 10 minutes.

Then assemble.

Doing it this way, enables the majoriyt of the solvent in RTV to leave, allowing for a good, long lasting seal.

Failure to do this will cause the center parts of the RTV never to cure, leaks can happen.

Good luck.

 

[Demon33]

Find a flat surface, pound the oil pan flat (after removing all old RTV.

Use "The Right Stuff" or "Ultra Black" if first is unavalible.

Put a thin layer of RTV on both the engine and the oil pan.

Let sit for 10 minutes.

Then assemble.

Doing it this way, enables the majoriyt of the solvent in RTV to leave, allowing for a good, long lasting seal.

Failure to do this will cause the center parts of the RTV never to cure, leaks can happen.

Good luck.

Good information! Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Defiant]

Agreed. Now that my car's going on 20 years old this coming September

A slight off-topic: interesting that they've not really bettered the DSM layout, isn't it? Many cars are better in specific areas, from power to price to performance. But overall, and factoring in styling, they've not really been surpassed.